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Siege of Myoko
Background During the Battle of Joetsu, the postwar Japanese state took full advantage of the fact that their position in the middle of Honshu, surrounded by the Japanese state to the north and the Communist Party of Japan to the south prevented The Shogunate from deploying their main naval fleet, including their two operational pre-war frigates to the north coast of Honshu. This gave the JMSDF the ability to attack Joetsu, the westernmost Shogunate city on the north coast on Honshu with little naval opposition, the pre-war warships of the JSDF easily destroying the few improvised warships the Shogunate could deploy. The Shogunate could only muster a few aircraft and even fewer pre-war fighters in the north, meaning the JASDF quickly gained air superiority over the area, allowing an amphibious landing with air, artillery, and naval support. From August 7th to the 18th, JSDF forces made steady advances, using their greater number of pre-war vehicles to surround and eliminate pockets of Shogunate resistance to the east of Joetsu, before flanking and surrounding the city from the south, before moving in and finishing off the Shogunate resistance in the city of Joetsu. The Shogunate fought fiercely in spite of their firepower disadvantage, with the JSDF suffering over 1000 KIA, while over 2200 Shogunate troops died in battle, choosing to die rather than surrender in accordance with the ancient samurai code of bushido. Even as the last pockets of resistance were being crushed in Joetsu, the advance to the south continued. In response to the defeat, Shogun and Emperor Taro "Oda Nobunaga" Oda ordered the daimyo of Shinano Shisei Katsuragi to send reinforcements, including 1500 men, 45 artillery guns and 30 tanks and other combat vehicles. Eight of the Shogunate's dwindling numbers of pre-war jet fighters were deployed from Matsumoto, but they were not capable of more then sporadic hit-and-run attacks against the superior JSDF air forces. The JSDF, however, with their ability to move large numbers of troops by sea, however, had by this point massed over 14,000 men and 100 vehicles, and the valley was within range of over 100 land-based guns and 50 JSDF aircraft, including 20 pre-war jet fighters. Continued Momentum As JSDF forces cleared the last Shogunate pockets of resistance in the city of Joetsu, their comrades continued the advance. On August 18th, JSDF air, land-based, and naval artillery bombarded the area around the pre-war Wakinoda rail station, located south of the main city of Joetsu. At 0930 hours, JSDF mechanized forces advanced on the city, punching through the weaker Shogunate lines in the open areas to the east and surrounding the station, before clearing the city by 1200 hours. At the same time, JSDF forces who had been massing on the Hikarigahara Highland, a high terrace in the mountains that provided a strategic view of the Seki River Valley and Myoko advance down the mountain road leading down into the valley, supported by artillery guns positioned on the Hikarigahara Highland. The JSDF vehicles and infantry made it across the pass to the valley by 1000 hours, pushing past any opposing Shogunate forces with the height advantage the mountains afforded. The JSDF forces then joined their comrades advancing form the north and surrounded the town of Itakura, clearing it of Shogunate defenders by 1100 hours. With the fall of Itakura, the JSDF captured a bridge over a west-flowing tributary of the Seki River intact, allowing them to push south as far as the outskirts of the Arai district of Myoko, the main part of the city, but were unable to advance into the city, being stopped dug-in Shogunate force on the other side of the Seki River. Nonetheless, by 1300 hours, all land east of the Seki River as far south as Myoko was in JSDF hands. To the north of Myoko and west of the Seki, JSDF advances were slowed by heavy urban combat around the pre-war Kita-Arai train station, as well as fighting in the mountain near Shiroyama on the east side of the Seki Valley. Nonetheless, by 1600 hours, JSDF forces had taken the Kita-Arai station, and by the end of the day, they had advanced about 1.5 kilometers to the south of the station, and had made it about 2.5 kilometers to the south in the open ground east of the Seki and west of the Yashiro Rivers, and were beginning to flank the central city of Myoko. The hardest fighting, however, was still to come. Fighting in Central Myoko As JSDF forces advanced towards central Myoko, their advance was slowed both by the urban terrain and the fact that they were leaving the range at which ships off the shore of Joetsu could provide fire support. At the same time, JSDF forces came up against the second line of Shogunate resistance, which ran along the Seki river to the east and the Yashiro to the west, with the before crossing the rivers and entering the city of Myoko, located between them a bit to the north of a pre-war industrial facility that lay mostly abandoned, though parts of it had been repurposed for producing small arms ammunition. This line was heavily fortified, with multiple layers of defense manned by machine gunners, snipers, and ATGM and recoilless rifle teams, as well as various tanks and other armed vehicles hidden in dug-in positions. As the JSDF reached the boundaries of Myoko, they also came into range of Shogunate artillery, recently having arrived in Myokokogen, located in the mountain pass to the south, from the Shinano domain. These defenses, derived by daimyo of Shinano Shisei Katsuragi were intended to halt the JSDF advance into the city. While the artillery caused some JSDF casualties, they were prevented from making extended fire missions by JSDF air superiority. While the air support, along with JSDF artillery that had been moved inland managed to suppress the Shogunate guns, as the JSDF air forces moved deeper into Shogunate territory, they became more vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and hit-and-run attacks by Shogunate fighters. The JSDF lost seven aircraft, mostly to anti-aircraft fire, however the Shogunate suffered heavier losses, specifically twelve aircraft downed. The loss of even one aircraft was a significant blow to any pre-war faction, who could not produce more of them, but given their lower numbers of both pilots and aircraft, the Shogunate suffered more heavily with each loss. With the guns suppressed, the JSDF armored and infantry forces advanced, however, their progress was slow, as the Shogunate defenders offered heavy resistance. It took until about 1200 hours on August 19th before the pre-war industrial plant and surrounding residential area was cleared. The armored vehicles that had provided the JSDF mobility were forced to hang back and provide fire support, before infantry cleared the buildings. By 1400 hours, the JSDF had cleared the pre-war Arai train station, while the flanking force to the west had crossed the shallow Yashiro River south of town and taken a park to the southwest. At the same time, the eastern flanking force crossed the Seki River and were caught up fighting in a suburb of Arai to the southeast. The eastern flank attack was delayed for the better part of an hour by artillery fire spotted from the strategic summit of Takatokoyama, as well as mortars, recoilless rifles, and artillery mounted on Takatokoyama itself. The guns on Takatokoyama were finally suppressed when two JSDF F80J fighters dropped napalm on the summit positions, starting a small forest fire that forced the Shogunate troops to clear the positions. By 1530 hours, the JSDF flanking forces had met to the south of the city, surrounding the Shogunate pockets of resistance within. After taking Arai station, the next target of the JSDF forces in the city was the pre-war city hall and a group of other municipal buildings, which were heavily fortified by the Shogunate, who used the position as a command post. By 1530 hours, JSDF forces had reached edge of the buildings, which by this point were heavily damaged by artillery fire. The fire fight for the municipal compound took the better part of half an hour, with strong points in each building being hit by tank guns and handheld rockets, before infantry entered, clearing the building room by room in close-in fighting. In many cases, Shogunate troops would charge at JSDF forces with swords, knives, and bayonets as soon as they entered a room. The municipal complex was taken by 1600 hours, however, the last pockets of resistance in Arai would not fall until around 2000 hours, with many of the holdouts either committing seppuku or making a final charge at JSDF forces, attacking with edged weapons or else pretending to surrender, before blowing themselves up with grenades or dynamite. Nine JSDF tanks and 16 other vehicles, as well as over 550 men, the almost half of the casualties in the battle, were lost in the brutal fighting in the Arai district of central Myoko on the 19th of August. The Shogunate lost over 1200 men, 14 tanks, and 17 other vehicles. Nihongi and Sekiyama On August 20th, 2256, with JSDF forces controlling Arai and the north end of Takatokoyama, JSDF forces advanced to the south, with JSDF armor and mechanized infantry making rapid advances in the Yashiro River valley, moving along the pre-war Joshin-Etsu expressway. The eastern attack maneuvered to the southeast and, by 1000 hours, they had surrounded the town of Nihongi, located southwest of Takatokoyama, capturing a pre-war highway interchange that blocked the Shogunate from retreating along the expressway and trapping the Shogunate forces within the town. JSDF forces tasked with directly attacking the town of Nihongi encountered much heavier resistance in the town. The JSDF also encountered determined resistance by Shogunate infantry in the forests on the south end of Takatokoyama, though by 1200 hours, they had been cleared the summit with the help of power armor and Type 31 Armored Combat Suits, which could maneuver in the mountainous forests, unlike more conventional armored vehicles. Fighting in Nihongi would last longer, until 1500 hours, however, by this point, the JSDF forces had them surrounded, allowing them to clear the smaller town much more quickly than the center of the larger city of Myoko. Further JSDF gains on August 20th, however, were curtailed by well-placed Shogunate artillery in a pre-war ski resort on the slopes of Mount Myoko, which, directed from observation posts on the mountain, could fire down on JSDF troops. The artillery fire was followed by a Shogunate counterattack that pushed the forward elements of the JSDF advance back to Nihongi, but proved unable to push the JSDF forces out of Nihongi. For the rest of the day, JSDF artillery and air assets targeted the artillery on Mount Myoko, attempting to disable as many of the guns as possible. On August 21st, after bombarding the Shogunate positions all night, JSDF forces began a renewed offensive against the Shogunate positions, sending a two-pronged assault against the town of Sekiyama and the slopes of Mt. Myoko. The western force would attack Sekiyama from due north, before part of the unit would break off to the west and attack along the road leading to the pre-war ski resorts on the slopes of Mt. Myoko. The eastern force was to attack from the east side of Takatokoyama and push through the fields of east of Sekiyama and attempt to surround the town. At attack began at 0700 hours, with over 60 tanks and 100 other vehicles leading the charge under a covering artillery barrage on Sekiyama. The western force quickly ran into heavy resistance as they reached Sekiyama, and were forced to engage in street-to-street fighting much as they had in Joetsu, Myoko, and Nihongi. Tank and shoulder-fired rockets were used to demolish Shogunate-held structures and knock out emplaced vehicles, before moved into clear out the positions. To the east, JSDF forces initially made rapid advance until reaching a series of forested hills, where they encountered heavy resistance from dug-in Shogunate forces in the forests. Only after hours of heavy fighting were JSDF forces finally able to dislodge the defenders in Sekiyama and the forests to the east. The attempt to push up the slopes of Mt. Myoko, however, proved unsuccessful, as the JSDF tanks leading the assault were forced up a narrow road through dense forests and easily disabled by mines and handheld rockets. By 1600 hours, JSDF forces were forced to retreat back to Sekiyama after hours of heavy fighting in the dense forests, in danger of being surrounded by Shogunate infantry. Aftermath The Battle of Myoko is generally considered to have ended after the capture of Sekiyama, which marked the southernmost piece of territory the JSDF successfully captured in 2256. The Battle of Myokokogen would begin on August 22nds with the unsuccessful JSDF assault on Myokokogen in an attempt to take the town, as well as the mountains to the east and west, securing a path into the major Shogunate city of Nagano. By this point, however, the JSDF had pushed too far- by this point, Shogunate reinforcements were closer to the frontlines the JSDF reinforcements, which had to be transported in by sea at Joetsu, and the JSDF force were well into range of Shogunate artillery north of Nagano. On August 22nd, and 23rd, after two failed offensive costing the lives of over 2000 men, the JSDF would be forced to retreat. A Shogunate counterattack would retake Sekiyama, however, they would prove unable to push further thanks to JSDF artillery batteries and defensive positioned, as well as the almost 15,000 JSDF troops that had been landed at Joetsu by this point. After the Battle Myokokogen, the frontline would stabilized south of Nihongi, with JSDF forces holding the Seki and Yashiro River Valleys. This stalemate would continued for four years, until 2260, when, after suffering attrition and heavy losses on other fronts, notably the 2258 Battle of Kofu, the Shogunate defenders would finally be weakened to the point the JSDF could finally make a breakthrough. Category:Battles Category:Events